Biffa and Circularity Scotland denounce RMAS’s criticism of Scotland DRS

Scotland’s DRS scheme has received intense scrutiny from the Resource Management Association Scotland (RMAS), representing Scotland’s SME resource and waste management enterprises. But the DRS administrator, Circularity Scotland, refuses to succumb to the queries.

RMAS estimates that the small waste management firms will endure the blow of this mechanism as, until now, various operators were responsible for waste management in Scotland’s hospitality sector, but after the introduction of this scheme, the businesses will have “no alternative but to accept Biffa’s services for the collection of all qualifying drinks containers.”

An associate from Circularity Scotland asserted that “clearly drinks containers are only one element of the materials that make up household and business waste in Scotland, and DRS will not affect the collection of these materials”.

Biffa was also very defensive about RMAS’s comment on the proposed DRS scheme and confined to sources that the event may open up 500 additional job positions in the area since the organisation already pays more than 300 workers in Scotland.

Biffa claims: “We’re also actively engaged with a number of small and medium organisations in Scotland to help us deliver parts of the scheme.”

To further advocate their cause, Circularity Scotland blurted out that Biffa has been appointed as the official logistical agent for the DRS scheme in Scotland after a “full and robust bidding process, which included smaller Scottish-based operators”. They went on to justify that Biffa was selected because it has “unparalleled expertise in supporting large-scale and complex recycling schemes across the world”.

The Circularity Scotland representative added that it is “committed” to delivering a very efficient, cost-effective DRS scheme. The organisation added: “We are actively working with recycling, waste and logistics providers across Scotland to identify opportunities to work in partnership and utilise existing collection arrangements.”

RMAS also illustrated how appointing Biffa as the sole logistics provider might result in larger carbon emissions. The unanimous body believes that longer journeys might leave behind larger carbon footprints.

Biffa dismissed the above notion as it went on to explain that its logistic contract “includes an obligation to reduce carbon activity for the delivery of the service”. The emission cut might be attributed to the infinite recycling of plastic and aluminium against the energy-intensive production of raw materials.

Circularity Scotland is in constant touch with Scottish councils’ waste management teams “about synergies with their recycling networks”, as was cited by an associate. The team is quite positive about controlling the emissions from collection vehicles.

RMAS’s remark has also been supported by a number of cross-party MSPs who all think the Scottish DRS is “realigned and rolled out in tandem with schemes being planned in England and Northern Ireland”. These plans are to be materialised by August 2023 in England and Northern Ireland.

The Biffa associate also said, “£80 million is being invested in infrastructure, including opening processing centres in Motherwell, Aberdeen, Thurso, Inverness, Dundee and Grangemouth to count, sort and bale the plastic, glass and aluminium drinks containers collected through the scheme.”

“Work has already started on most of these sites, and several counting machines have already been delivered,” Biffa underlined.

An associate with Circularity Scotland also wanted the scheme “to go ahead without delay”. This DRS scheme will be extremely beneficial in increasing Scotland’s recycling rates which can be tracked in 95 per cent of the beach surveys conducted in Scotland.